Chương 22: Chapter Twenty-Two

"So, you're saying the dungeon is a tier 6." The old guy was back, and his face was as wrinkly as ever as he made an unhappy face. Neera's declaration had started a rush of conversations among the people gathered in the square, but that all died down as soon as the old guy spoke. I guess he's the mayor? I don't know. And he's not been nice enough for me to ask. I'll just go with it since the town people seam to defer to him.

"Yes. Luckily, none of the creatures had mutated into a matching tier yet. The lightning bugs were painful enough to deal with." Neera made a sour face at whatever she was remembering. Mom chuckled softly. The sun was threatening to set now, but it didn't seam as though anyone was in the mood to leave. In fact, I think I see a couple of people planning on lighting torches so the conversation could continue into the night.

"There can't be a dungeon near us." He disagreed. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he stomped his foot. I must have said that part out loud, because Stella who was standing beside me chuckled and Beth put her hand on my shoulder shaking her head at me when I looked up at her. Stupid tall friends.

"I'm not here to argue with you. I'll report it when we get to Ederall. They'll send people to perform a full survey." Neera shrugged her shoulders obviously done with the old man.

"What you do with the information before hand's up to you. But it's been cleared. So, you should be good for a week. It won't be on my conscious if you don't manage it appropriately."

"Neerea." Dad admonished. She gave him a look, then shrugged before walking off. Dad rubbed his temple.

"You really went to the bottom of the dungeon?" I asked Mom as Dad started telling the Mayor what he should do. Only for the Mayor to repeat his denial in new, and sometimes creative ways.

"Yes. We found it fast enough. And spent most of the day clearing it. Dungeons are. Just caves in the end which work for us since it corralled everything into one location and prevents everything from attacking at once. It leaves them susceptible to area attacks."

"Like fireball?" This question came from Stella and not me. But it was on my tongue as well.

"Similar. We used an ice spell because fire in an enclosed space is dangerous for everyone. The only real problem were the lighting bugs. They didn't increase in size, so you didn't know they were there until they zapped you with a form of lightning attack. I had to heal so frequently." She sighed at the recollection before smirking.

"You should have seen Neera. Her hair was sticking straight up for the last hour. I didn't think she would get it back down before we left." I laughed at the thought. But then another question popped into my head.

"If you spent the day traveling the dungeon, how did you get back so soon?"

"Teleportation." She answered leaving it at that. I could only tilt my head, then shrugged deciding it didn't matter for now. The three others who had went were actively arguing with the Mayor over whatever he just said. But I wasn't paying attention to that at this point.

"How bad is this going to be for the town?" I asked. Mom scooped up Boyan who was making grasping motions from the ground.

"Bad. Tier six is rare for human lands." She eyed me.

"Dungeons are ranked up to tier ten, well really only tier nine. Then everything above that is said to be tier ten. Tier six, in human lands is almost unheard of. So, it's both rare and valuable. Even if the town moves in, the crown won't let them keep it. They'll farm it for materials and shards."

"How does that work?" I asked looking at the Mayor again, as I couldn't fathom how someone farmed a dungeon. Resources were either there or not.

"They'll build a city nearby, but leave the dungeon open so creatures can move in. They'll clear it, and move raw ore into the lowest chambers so over time it's imbued with mana and becomes magical. Heck, the city will dig deep cellars and fill them with ore to capitalize on the mana that the dungeon provides." She sighed.

"Dungeons fade. They have about three human generations to make the most of it before it starts to lose its tier and eventually disappears. They're going to make as much out of it as possible."

"And destroy this town." Beth stated. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"And destroy this town." Mom agreed. Stella and Beth were frowning at the situation, but I shrugged. Situations changed. No one died, so the townspeople didn't have it as bad as it could be. They just had to move. If they didn't… well, every choice has consequences. If you can't live with them, you should just make another choice. We stayed another day, and left the morning as planned. A lot of people were grumpy. Dad included.

I'm pretty sure a group of people tried to bribe Dad into not telling the guard about the dungeon. But… really? Did he not count how many people were in this caravan? Was he planning on bribing all of us? And really, everyone here gossips like I can't believe. They even had me gossiping on several occasions, and I've never gossiped! But they don't have anything on Stella. She talked more than ten people combined.

I tried sitting next to Dad for a while, but his bad mood continued on our way and do I abandoned him to work on the Clean spell with Mom. I have started to make progress, and can read, and write, one of the three rune blocks. It essentially says "The dirt and grime that alters nature". I think there has to be a bit of imagination involved here, because I don't know how a bowl qualifies for nature. Maybe the person who made the spell was into poetry? I don't know.

Maybe when I learn more, I can make one that actually makes sense. By the time Ederall I had memorized how six sets of squiggles interacted with a half dozen runes. No, they don't interact the same way. Or even produce similar results even with similar runes. I started the throw Faerie Fire at Mom after hearing her explain how the landosa rune turns the light rune into a essentially a means of targeting someone that performs an action and the bright rune into 'glow from within' for the third time.

We took a break after that. But now, Ederall. My insides were turning as the walls came into view. The city that would… will be my home. The walls looked rougher than the ones in Tenoth. More of a raw stone look with mortar visibly holding the large stone slabs together. The wall was also taller, almost thirty feet, and I'm not compensating for my lack of height. Dad was finally out of his funk, so I was sitting next to him as we queued for entrance.

"Does every city have lines to get in?" Dad chuckled.

"Only the walled ones." He supplied. People on foot and riding alone or in small groups moved by. None of them gave me more then a glance.

"It's different here." I commented watching people move by.

"Most humans don't have Mana Sense. And those that do generally won't worry about what they see unless they feel it's a threat. So, don't growl at anyone and you should be fine here." I frowned at his joke.

"Isn't that what the elves said? They were scared of me." Dad waffled his hand.

"They said they believed you were a threat. That's not defining action, but possibility. Humans understand that just because someone can be a threat, that doesn't mean they choose to be a threat." Dad shrugged.

"Besides, the elves were just saying that for justification. What they really meant was: If we study you, we might be able to make ourselves more powerful." I scoffed.

"No really. You need to brush up on your elven. It was plain as day." Dad said, and despite the light tone, his face had darkened. I better not bring up elves for a while.

"So where is home?" Dad waved at someone, his face brightening.

"North east quarter. Or, the demon quarter. Our home is on the north main street, near the center of the city. You won't be able to miss it once you see it." I smiled thinking about the possibilities. It had to at least be as large as the Mayor's house. And probably in better condition too. Having a roof over my head, that's mine. Well, not really. But close enough. I don't think I remember what that's like. Hopefully my stomach stops complaining so I can feel it.

We rolled up to the gate, and the guards waved us to stop. The same motions, the some commands, but their demeanor was completely different then the elves. There wasn't any aggression. No abrupt commands. No greed.

"Evan! Welcome back." The guard closest to us called out as he placed his hand on one of our horses and patted it.

"Thomas. Thanks. The trip was a bit bumpy this time." The guard didn't laugh, but looked up at Dad.

"So, it's true then?"

"What's that?"

"The Toordor are going to war against the Elves?" Dad's sigh was bone weary.

"That news already arrived, did it?" Dad managed to get out as he rubbed his temple.

"I think Gaven has been summoned to the castle a dozen times in the last two days to answer questions from the Queen, King, or jester. So, yes. It's out. And it's true I take it." The soldier was frowning as he stared at my Dad.

"We're going to war against House La'Tithe, who control only one city now. The elven queen's agreed to stay out of it, and to order her people not to interfere. I've made some promises too. Hopefully, that will minimize the suffering." The soldier sighed.

"Yeah, let's hope." His grey eyes found mine, and his frown disappeared.

"And who's this? I don't remember you." Dad took my shoulder.

"This is my daughter, Lyra. We adopted her on our travels."

"Hi." I offered with a small wave. I think I spoke loud enough for him to hear.

"Ahh. Well, welcome to Ederall Lyra. I'm Thomas, a guard here. I don't know where you've been, but things are generally safe here. If not, find a guard. We're good for that. Just remember to get her citizenship papers filed Evan." Dad groaned and Thomas chuckled.

"Hey now. Two nations living as one. If we participate in this war's yet to be seen. But if you march off to war, we'll be guarding your home. A bit of paperwork's a small price to pay to keep things running smooth don't you think?" Dad's groan came to an end.

"When a mans right, he's right. Still…" Dad looked around.

"I don't suppose it's to late to turn around and you say you've not seen me is it?" Thomas' smile turned sickly.

"We sent a runner as soon as we saw you in the queue." He admitted.

"So, no. Not going to happen." Dad shook his head in dismay.